A New York Times College List That Makes Some Sense

Today I saw a different college list on the New York Times online. This college list, prepared by The Upshot, a regular column, ranks colleges for accessibility to students from low and middle-income families.

The top-ranked schools, not surprising, are in the University of California system. The system, through the Blue and Gold Plan, allows students who come from families earning less than $80,000 to attend tuition free. But it was interesting to see that the most selective campuses in the system did not rank the highest on this college list. In fact, the University of California-Irvine (UC-Irvine), located in Orange County, one of the most politically conservative places in America, ranks first. UC-Irvine’s acceptance rate (most recently 38 percent) is easily more than double the rates for Berkeley or UCLA.

I looked further down this college list and saw many of the usual value suspects. The University of Florida, ranked sixth, charges a ridiculously low (by today’s standards) rate of in-state tuition of $6,310 while the state has its own financial aid programs that could reduce costs further. The University of Georgia, which ranks 25th, benefits from students who receive generous merit awards through the Hope and Zell Miller Scholarship programs as well as need-based aid. Ivy League schools rank in the top 55, though some lesser-known names rank higher.

Among the 67 schools on this college list that had a College Access Index of 1.0 or higher, there were some names worth investigating further. These colleges are not household names, but very good performers that apparently try to help students from low and middle-income families to complete their degrees, and hopefully go on to further education as well as a rewarding life’s work. These schools included:

Westminster College (PA), ranked 12th. This school accepted more than 90 percent of its applicants last year, has a student body that is nearly 30 percent Pell-eligible. Yet the college graduated 71 percent of the freshmen who entered in 2010 on time. That’s better than any University of California system school, excluding Berkeley.

Knox College (IL), ranked 14th.This school accepted more than two-thirds of this applicants last year. It has a student body that is 24 percent Pell-eligible. Yet the college graduated 73 percent of the freshmen who entered in 2010 on time. That’s better than any University of California system school, including Berkeley.

Gustavus Adophus College (MN), ranked 33rd. This school accepted more than 60 percent of its applicants last year. It has a student body that is 21 percent Pell-eligible. Yet the college graduated 81 percent of the freshmen who entered in 2010 on time. That’s better than all but four state universities in the country, excluding the University of Michigan, the College of William and Mary, the University of Virginia and the University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill.

Other stars on this list that might not be top of mind with college-bound families included St. Mary’s College of Maryland (a public honors college), College of St. Benedict (MN), Allegheny College (PA), Clark University (MA), Hope College (MI) and St. Olaf College (MN). The lowest four-year graduation rate in this bunch? Hope College, at 70 percent. The lowest acceptance rate? St. Olaf, at just over 51 percent.

This college list showed that high school seniors should look beyond famous names to find a school that will successfully guide them to a future. One can only hope that this list will grow larger, and use a four-year graduation rate.